Film Distributor Arrow Films Improves File Transfer Workflows and Cuts Costs by 30%

Who is Arrow Films?

Arrow Films is a UK-based independent film distributor and production company specializing in horror, arthouse, classic, and world cinema. It is well known for high-quality physical media releases, including films and TV shows such as Netflix’s Stranger Things, Falling Down, and other classic titles on Blu-ray and UHD, featuring custom artwork, booklets, and extensive bonus features.

“For many releases we create a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. Each film is treated as a collectible,” explains Head of Media Services Sigrid Larsen, who has been with Arrow Films for around eight years. “What motivates me is working with great films and people who are passionate about producing great discs.”

Who is Base Media Cloud?

Base Media Cloud (Base) designs, builds and supports customized video and multimedia workflow solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes. With roots in film and television, Base helps organizations unlock the commercial potential of video, increase efficiency, accelerate growth, and create new revenue opportunities through improved monetization.

By acting as a trusted technology partner to clients such as Arrow Films, Base enables media companies to focus on core creative work while leaving cloud infrastructure management in expert hands.

The Challenge: Expensive, Unreliable Transfer From Aspera

Because Arrow Films – which regularly performs 4K and 8K film restoration with multiple labs across the world – works with file packages often a couple terabytes in size, and that are typically moved multiple times, a robust transfer solution is imperative.
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“There’s a lot of back and forth – a lot of different versions” that get transferred including theatrical and director’s cuts, reference files, and proxies, explains Larsen.

Arrow Films needed a tool that could move these packages across the globe easily and quickly without drama. However, the problems the company experienced with its former provider, Aspera, were several:

• A fragmented workflow: Files were previously sent to Arrow Films’ cloud storage – instead of directly into Iconik – which, along with an inability to send from Iconik, often led to delays.
• A difficult-to-use, complex, unreliable system: “Scrolling through the Aspera pages was a nightmare. If you want to search for a main folder, it usually crashes out.”
• Poor customer service: “We set up troubleshooting meetings, and it would be someone far too junior or who had absolutely no idea why we'd set up this call.”
• Expensive transfer costs: “Cost was the main issue. Ultimately, cost per gigabyte in terms of transfers is always going to be the main thing for us.”

The Solution: Affordable, User-Friendly Transfers Integrated With Iconik

The company was introduced to MASV via Base Media Cloud – which, as a managed services provider, creates operational efficiencies through high-performing video and multimedia workflow solutions for its clients.

After trialing for several weeks, Arrow Films felt confident it could completely replace Aspera with MASV with the support of Base to implement and manage it on an ongoing basis.

A Portals-based, integrated global workflow

Arrow Films now uses MASV Portals to receive content and ingest it directly into Iconik, leading to better performance. Because users can spin up a virtually unlimited number of Portals, the client has created more than 40 of them – with each tied to a specific partner or project.

• Portals are now integrated with Iconik using MASV’s native integration, and individual Portals per entity make file organization intuitive. “That makes sure the files go into the correct folders,” explains Larsen. “We have more internal control over what's being delivered and where those files are going.”
• Send From Iconik capability means files don’t have to leave the MAM before being sent to collaborators, a significant time-saver by avoiding the traditional download-and-re-upload cycle.

It’s all backed by MASV’s accelerated global network of 750+ edge servers, so files never travel far before they’re riding our private network.

An easy-to-use, stable transfer platform that doesn’t crash

Larsen says MASV’s browser-based Portals and drag-and-drop user interface (in both its Web and Desktop Apps) are much easier to use, and aren’t prone to crashing in the middle of a project.

MASV’s stability is evident both in the user interface and in the reliability of its network, says Senior Technical Account Manager at Base, Miles Daniel-Davies.

“That's where MASV really made a big difference – the resilience of the transfers,” he says. “The fact that you can send an entire package with lots of different elements with that same resilience makes a big difference.”

Many frequent MASV users within the Arrow Films workflow use the MASV Desktop App, which offers even better performance, reliability, and transfer monitoring tools compared to the already fast and resilient MASV Web App.

Dedicated customer service and strong relationships

Let’s get this out of the way right now: MASV is not anywhere close to the same size of company as IBM Aspera.

For Larsen, that was part of the appeal.

“Working with a smaller company where we can develop solutions together appealed to us,” she says, adding she and her team have developed strong working relationships with MASV and have received timely technical support whenever needed. “That kind of personal aspect of it definitely appealed to us as well.”

Flexible, affordable transfer pricing

MASV is flat-out more affordable than Aspera, Larsen says, adding that the company now pays nearly 30% less per GB. MASV also doesn’t eat up Arrow Films’ time with wasted meetings and software crashes.

“MASV has resulted in massive cost savings for us – no pun intended,” Larsen says.

Arrow Films has been able to add several users to MASV – 17 and counting – without paying per-user licensing fees, as is the case with Aspera.

The Result: Robust Global File Transfer and Personalized Service at a Fraction of the Cost

Larsen says MASV’s flexible pricing initially sealed the deal, and that MASV has added even more value through its ease of use, performance, and time-saving reliability.

Technical staff at Base say MASV’s global accelerated network has helped improve cross-regional transfer times compared to Aspera’s point-to-point transfer protocol, which can degrade over long distances.

“That's where we're seeing the biggest gains,” explains Daniel-Davies. “Arrow Films have partners in the U.S. They have partners in Japan. And when they're sending stuff in, or vice versa, they're seeing quicker transfers.”

Larsen says Arrow Films is actively exploring other MASV features, including Custom Metadata Forms, and that MASV and Base’s combined customer service and technical support has helped guide her company through any issues.

“MASV, to me, equals efficient file transfers and personalized service,” she says. “I really appreciate how we've been able to meet in person with people from MASV. There's much more of a connection.”